Turnbuckle wrench

ABSTRACT

This application discloses a turnbuckle wrench comprising an elongated slotted body. The link of the turnbuckle is fitted within the slot and the wrench rotated to tighten or loosen the turnbuckle. Retaining elements hold the wrench on the turnbuckle.

United States Patent Greene, Jr.

[541 TURNBUCKLE WRENCH [72] Inventor: Henry E. Greene, Jr., Wilmette, 111.

[73] Assignee: Waldon Devices Inc., Wilmette, Ill.

[22] Filed: Feb. 8, 1971 21 Appl. No.: 113,569

[52] US. Cl. ..81/119, 16/114, 248/472, 81/64 [51] Int. Cl. ..B25b 13/02 [58] Field of Search .....8l/ll9, 64, 3.4; 16/110, 114, 16/124; 248/472, 170, 168, 166, 455

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Mitchell ..16/1 14 n 7 [is] 3,682,023 1 Aug. 8, 1972 10/1954 Jones ..8l/52.3X 2/1924 Wickham ..248/166X Primary Examiner-James L. Jones, Jr. Attorney-McDougall, Hersh & Scott [57] ABSTRACT This application discloses a turnbuckle wrench comprising an elongated slotted body. The link of the tumbuckle is fitted within the slot and the wrench rotated to tighten or loosen the turnbuckle. Retaining elements hold the wrench on the turnbuckle.

12 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMIG 81912 3,682,023

' //v vL-wro e Henry Greene, J72

TURNBUCKLE WRENCH BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to improvements in means for mounting or supporting objects. More specifically, it relates to improvements in tumbuckles, a novel wrench for use with tumbuckles and with supports utilizing tumbuckles as holding means.

Tumbuckles are devices usually having an elongated open link provided with oppositely threaded holes through its opposite ends opening into the link into which oppositely threaded elements provided with hooks or rings on their ends may be threaded. Tumbuckles are well-known devices used to hold in fixed positions elements which are movable with respect to each other. A common application of tumbuckles is to attach one threaded holding element of the turnbuckle to one movable element, and the other oppositely threaded holding element to another movable element. The movable elements are tightened or fixed with respect to each other by rotating the elongated link in which the threaded holding elements are engaged until ,the desired amount of holding force has been developed between the two movable elements.

In most of the turnbuckle applications with which I am familiar, the link is rotated by inserting a turning tool, very frequently a screw driver, into the link opening and using the turning tool or screw driver as a lever.

In many situations, the space available for insertion of the turning tool is limited so that if it can be inserted at all, only very short turns can be taken requiring the person desiring to use the turnbuckle to turn the link slightly, withdraw his turning tool, reinsert it and turn it again in a repetitive fashion. In some cases where it is desired to tighten the turnbuckle until the ends of the threaded holding elements meet within the elongated link, a lever cannot be inserted between the ends for the final tightening.

A particular situation where a lever cannot be easily used occurs, and has led to what must be recognized as a serious problem, in the exterior mounting of rearview mirrors on vehicles when they are towing what are commonly known as trailers. In recent years there has been a significant upsurge in the use of trailers of various sizes up to 32 feet long for recreational purposes, including vacations, hunting or fishing or such. During the same period we have seen the rapid growth of boating as a pastime, and many of these boats are towed by their owners to and from the water on boat trailers. Also expanding rapidly are the rental cargo-trailer franchises that allow a motorist to move his household possessions from one address to another without employing the services of a moving van. All of these applications often require temporary conversion of a family car into a towing vehicle.

When towing such trailers, it is a requirement of law in some states, and it is certainly a reasonable precaution in all situations, to provide on the towing vehicle outside rear-view minors, preferably on both sides, so that the operator of the towing vehicle may see the road on either side and in back of the trailer which may otherwise be obscured by the bulk of the trailer body. Mirrors provided for this purpose are arranged to be mounted on the vehicle when the trailer is being towed and dismounted when the trailer has been uncoupled. To my knowledge a significant percentage of the detachable mirror supports utilize a three-legged construction wherein'appropriate vehicle portion engaging means are provided at the bottom of each leg, and one of the legs is mademovable with respect to the others by means of a turnbuckle connecting that leg with a cross bar connecting-the other legs. Thus, when it is desired to attach the mirror, the vehicle-engagingelements are positioned and the turnbuckle tightened so as to provide a holding force and loosened to dismount the mirror.

Because, as previously described, it is difficult to swing a lever within the confines of a mirror framework, many persons attempt to tighten the tumbuckle with their fingertips, resulting in discomfort and an installation that is not safely tight. Or they do not use the mirrors at all, especially with cargo and boat trailers, despite the obvious safety, advantages of using a fender-mounted mirror that does not require the driver to take his eyes off the road or shift his gaze to the side as door-mounted mirrors do. For too many people who do use fender mirrors it turns out to be a kind of nuisance and, because it is a nuisance, a number of trailer operators do not dismount the mirror when the trailer is not actually being towed. Their failure to do so creates a significant hazard for themselves and other vehicle operators, for the mirrors and their supports add about ten to twelve inches to the effective width of the towing vehicle on each side. This, of course, is seldom a problem when the trailer is being towed because, typically, the trailer itself is wider than the towing vehicle and the presence of the trailer alerts other drivers to the fact that there is an oversize vehicle coming at them or preceding them. However, when the trailer is not being towed, there is nothing to alert an oncoming driver that the vehicle approaching him, perhaps at a significant speed, has elements projecting from its side which make it wider than the normal vehicle he would expect to encounter.

Consequently, it is highly desirable that a means be provided to render the mounting and dismounting of exterior mirror supports less of a nuisance so that operators will remove them when they are not needed for their intended purposes.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a novel wrench for tightening and loosening tumbuckles, which wrench is easy to apply and simple to operate.

It is another object of this invention to provide a novel wrench for use with tumbuckles which is economical so that high cost is no deterent to its purchase and which is compact so that it may easily be stored in a convenient location, such as the drivers pocket or the autos glove compartment.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a novel turnbuckle wrench which is constructed to provide a turning force sufficient to tighten or loosen a turnbuckle to desired degrees, even though the space available for manipulation is limited.

It is another object of this invention to provide, in a supporting structure maintained in a desired position by a turnbuckle, a novel more or less permanently mounted means of permitting relatively easy tightening and loosening of the turnbuckle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention itself is set forth in the claims appended hereto and forming a part of this specification, while an understanding of the structure and mode of use of various embodiments of the invention can be aided by reference to the detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustration of an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along the lines II-II of FIG. 1; I

FIG. 3 is a sectional view along the lines III-III of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an illustration showing how a wrench in accordance with the invention is intended to be used with a turnbuckle;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention; 1

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of still another embodi- I ment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of yet another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is an illustration of another embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, a first embodiment of the invention consists of an elongated cylindrical body 2 which may be formed by any suitable process such as molding from any one of any number of materials such as plastic, rubber, resins, glass fibers, metal, or combinations of these or similar materials. Molded into the elongated body is a longitudinal slot 4. The width of the slot 4 is such that its size will fit snugly against the sides of a turnbuckle link. It is contemplated that the body could be molded from resilient material so that a given wrench, in accordance with the invention, may accommodate turnbuckles of varying sizes. In the embodiment illustrated, the wrench is formed with a depression 6 in the bottom of the slot 4 which is of such a length as to permit a side of the turnbuckle link to be accommodated therein. In order to retain a turnbuckle link in the slot 4 while the hand is rotating it, the upper sides of the slots are provided with resilient retaining ledges 8. Since it is intended that the wrench shall be turned by hand, a roughened gripping surface 10 may be provided by securing to the periphery of the body a plastic or rubberized material so that there will be less of a tendency of the operators hand to slip as the wrench is turned.

It is to be understood that the particular shape of the bodyis not critical for, whereas it is shown as a cylinder, it could be molded in a rectangular or some other multi-sided configuration to facilitate gripping. Also, if desired, the body could be molded so as to provide finger-receiving indentations to provide a gripping surface. Likewise, the particular dimensions are not critical, it being necessary only that the slot 4 and retaining ledges 8 be dimensioned so that when the wrench is applied to a tumbuckle a snug fit is assured with the sides of the turnbuckle, so that it will turn as the wrench is turned.

As may be seen in FIG. 4, a conventional turnbuckle consists of an elongated link 12 provided with thickened ends 14 and 16. The turnbuckle is open at the top and bottom, and includes a pair of sides. The end 14 is provided with an opening 20, the inside of which is threaded in one direction while the end 16 is provided with an opening 22, the inside of which is threaded in the opposite direction. A pair of complementary threaded attaching elements 24 and 26 are threaded through the openings 20 and 22 so that when the attaching elements are attached to the devices which are desired to be positioned by the turnbuckle, and the link 12 is rotated in one direction, the attaching elements will move toward each other applying a holding force. When the turnbuckle link is rotated in the opposite direction, the attaching elements move outwardly, relieving the holding force.

As shown in FIG. 4, a wrench in accordance with the invention is adapted to be applied to the turnbuckle by placing the turnbuckle link within the slot 4. As the wrench is applied to the turnbuckle, the ledges 8, formed of a resilient material, deform slightly to pass over the sides 18 of the link 12 and thenassume their normal positions so as to provide a retaining means to hold the link within the slot 4. When the link 12 is in the slot 4, it rests within the depression 6 to further aid in the retention of the wrench on the turnbuckle and to prevent lateral slippage. At this point the wrench can then be rotated by hand to either tighten or loosen the turnbuckle. Because the sides of the slot 4 engage the sides of the turnbuckle, the turning force applied is increased by virtue of the lever arm extending from the point of applied force on the wrench to its various points of contact with the turnbuckle.

When the particular desired operation has been completed, the wrench may be removed from the tumbuckle against the retaining force supplied by the ledges 8, deforming them slightly in the process.

In another embodiment of the invention, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the ledges 8 may be eliminated and in their place a molded retaining element 28 provided. The retaining element 28 is molded of a resilient material so as to be slightly wider than the width of the slot 4 so. that it can be retained therein by a friction fit after the wrench has been applied to the turnbuckle and thereby retain the wrench on the turnbuckle while it is in use. The retaining element can be more securely anchored within the slot if a self-adhesive rubber or plastic covering is wrapped completely around the outer surface of the wrench, spanning the full length of the slot and blocking the exit of the retaining element.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of the invention wherein the slot 4' is formed with outwardly tapering sides so that the same wrench may be used to accom- In the operation of this embodiment, to tighten a tumbuckle the link thereof is inserted into the slot 4 and the turnbuckle rotated as described above. When the tumbuckle has been adjusted to the desired tightness, the wrench is removed from the turnbuckle and the wings of the lock nut are turned with the fingers until the nut touches the body link. The wrench is then applied so that the wings of the lock nut are inserted into the slot 4 with the attaching element of the turnbuckle passing through vertical slot 30, and the wrench is used as a short lever to tighten the wing nut. Reversing the direction of the levering action loosens the wing nut when desired.

As may be seen, a wrench in accordance with the invention provides a compact, easily removable means whereby a turnbuckle may be tightened or loosened as desired. A particular device which, when it incorporates a wrench in accordance with the invention, may be more easily manipulated is a support for mounting external rear-view mirrors on towing vehicles. Thus, FIG. 8 illustrates this embodiment of the invention. A mirror support as shown includes a first 'pair of supporting legs 40 and 42. The legs are cylindrical in shape and have flattened upper ends 44 through which a bolt 46 is passed to hold them together. The legs diverge to form a V and are held in a spaced-apart position by a spreader bar 48. At the lower end of each leg 40 and 42 are retaining elements 50 and 52, respectively, having projections 54 and 56, respectively, to engage in the space between the hood and fender of a vehicle.

tion completely encompassing it so as to be permanently attached thereto and therefore form part of the mirror support. This may be accomplished by molding the body of the wrench so as to be a hollow cylinder with the opening of the cylinder dimensioned to permit its application over the turnbuckle link. Alternatively, the turnbuckle wrench may be of the type illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 7, so that it can be applied to the tumbuckle or'stored as desired.

Obviously, modifications other than those described above can be made in the invention, including modifications with respect to design details and materials used, and it is contemplated to cover all such modifications as fall within the scope of the claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured as Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A wrench, for use with a turnbuckle having an elongated link provided with threaded openings at opposite ends thereof, screw thread holding elements engaging in said threaded openings, comprising: an elongated body; said body having a longitudinal slot open on one side of said body and extending into said body for engagement with a turnbuckle link; and said slot having a width such that when a turnbuckle link is inserted therein its sides will engage the sides of the link Attached to the two legs and 42 by means of the bolt 46 passing through its upper end is a third leg 58 provided with a hook 60 at its lower end to engage the bottom of an automobile fender portion over a wheel opening. A support bar 62 is attached to the junction of the legs 40, 42, and 58 by means of the bolt 46 passing through one of its ends and carries a mirror 64 at its upper end held by a bolt 66. A turnbuckle 68 is attached to the mirror support by securing one of its attaching elements 70 to the spreader bar 48 and the other of its attaching elements 72 to the third leg 58.

When it is desired to mount the mirror, the tumbuckle is loosened so as to move the third leg 58 away from the legs 40 and 42. When the turnbuckle has been loosened a sufficient amount to accommodate the towing vehicle fender to which it is being applied, the portions 54 and 56 are inserted into the space between the fender and the engine hood while the hook 60 is positioned beneath that portion of the fender over the wheel opening. The turnbuckle is then rotated in the opposite direction to cause the leg 58 to move toward the legs 40 and 42 securely tightening the mirror support on the fender. In accordance with this embodiment of the invention, the turnbuckle link may be provided with a wrench 74 in accordance with the invenas to rotate the link when the body is rotated.

2. The wrench of claim 1 including resilient retaining ledges on opposite sides of said slot adjacent its opening on one side of said body.

3. The wrench of claim 1 including a depression formed in the bottom of said slot extending over a portion of the longitudinal extent of said slot.

4. The wrench of claim 3 including resilient retaining ledges on opposite sides of said slot adjacent its opening on one side of said body.

5. The wrench of claim 1 wherein said slot diverges slightly outward from its bottom to accommodate tumbuckle links of varying sizes.

6. The wrench of claim 5 including resilient retaining ledges on opposite sides of said slot adjacent its opening on one side of said body.

7 The wrench of claim 6 including a depression formed in the bottom of said slot extending over a portion of the longitudinal extent of said slot.

8. The wrench of claim 7 including resilient retaining ledges on opposite sides of said slot adjacent its opening on one side of said body.

9. The wrench of claim 1 in combination with a resilient retaining element slightly wider than the opening of said slot for insertion into said slot.

10. The wrench of claim 1 wherein said body has-a transverse slot at one end thereof for engagement with an element to be rotated.

l l. The wrench of claim 10 including resilient retaining ledges on opposite sides of said slot adjacent its opening on one side of said body.

12. In a support for mounting external rear view mirrors on a vehicle including a first pair of diverging legs attached together at their converging ends, a spacer attached to each leg of said first pair intermediate its length to hold said pair of legs apart, a third leg movably attached to the junction of said first pair of legs, and a mirror mounted above the junction of all three legs, the improvement comprising: a turnbuckle including a link and a pair of oppositely threaded holding elements threaded into opposite ends of said link, means attaching one holding element to the spacer bar, means attaching the other holding element to the third leg, and a wrench formed from a moldable material encompassing said link whereby a turning force to rotate said link may be supplied by grasping and rotating said wrench. 

1. A wrench, for use with a turnbuckle having an elongated link provided with threaded openings at opposite ends thereof, screw thread holding elements engaging in said threaded openings, comprising: an elongated body; said body having a longitudinal slot open on one side of said body and extending into said body for engagement with a turnbuckle link; and said slot having a width such that when a turnbuckle link is inserted therein its sides will engage the sides of the link as to rotate the link when the body is rotated.
 2. The wrench of claim 1 including resilient retaining ledges on opposite sides of said slot adjacent its opening on one side of said body.
 3. The wrench of claim 1 including a depression formed in the bottom of said slot extending over a portion of the longitudinal extent of said slot.
 4. The wrench of claim 3 including resilient retaining ledges on opposite sides of said slot adjacent its opening on one side of said body.
 5. The wrench of claim 1 wherein said slot diverges slightly outward from its bottom to accommodate turnbuckle links of varying sizes.
 6. The wrench of claim 5 including resilient retaining ledges on opposite sides of said slot adjacent its opening on one side of said body.
 7. The wrench of claim 6 including a depression formed in the bottom of said slot extending over a portion of the longitudinal extent of said slot.
 8. The wrench of claim 7 including resilient retaining ledges on opposite sides of said slot adjacent its opening on one side of said body.
 9. The wrench of claim 1 in combination with a resilient retaining element slightly wider than the opening of said slot for insertion into said slot.
 10. The wrench of claim 1 wherein said body has a transverse slot at one end thereof for engagement with an element to be rotated.
 11. The wrench of claim 10 including resilient retaining ledges on opposite sides of said slot adjacent its opening on one side of said body.
 12. In a support for mounting external rear view mirrors on A vehicle including a first pair of diverging legs attached together at their converging ends, a spacer attached to each leg of said first pair intermediate its length to hold said pair of legs apart, a third leg movably attached to the junction of said first pair of legs, and a mirror mounted above the junction of all three legs, the improvement comprising: a turnbuckle including a link and a pair of oppositely threaded holding elements threaded into opposite ends of said link, means attaching one holding element to the spacer bar, means attaching the other holding element to the third leg, and a wrench formed from a moldable material encompassing said link whereby a turning force to rotate said link may be supplied by grasping and rotating said wrench. 